The geospatial community can play a vital role in
global warming research by helping to make a connection between climate
change and individual people. The best way to accomplish this is by
making satellite imagery and derived information more easily accessible
and understandable to the general public, so they can see the impact
that climate change has at the local level.

That was the consensus of representatives from SPOT Image Corp., CNES
(the French Space Agency) and Google Earth, who engaged in a lengthy
discussion following the "Space and the Polar Regions" seminar held in
Arlington, Virginia. Sponsored in April by the Embassy of France and
George Mason University to kick off the International Polar Year, the
event focused attention on the environmental monitoring data that Earth
observation satellites have collected over the poles and their
importance to research.

In their meeting, Spot Image, CNES and Google Earth picked up on the
theme of the conference and examined ways the geospatial industry,
specifically organizations providing imagery, can do a better job
assisting with climate change research. The three entities elaborated
on their own current and future activities to support environmental
monitoring initiatives.

Jean-Jacques Tortora, CNES space attaché to the Embassy of
France, explained that polar regions are crucial to understanding
global climate change because the poles are affected more rapidly and
dramatically than other parts of the Earth. And, he added, the changes
occurring there influence the oceans, atmospheres and land masses
around the globe.

"We are now realizing that indicators of the future of our planet lie
at the poles," said Tortora.

Despite this importance, the challenge for environmental scientists in
general, and polar researchers in particular, has been getting people
to understand that what happens at the North and South Poles impacts
their daily lives in France, the United States and elsewhere. The poles
are the most remote places on Earth, and few individuals have visited
them, so it's hard to make a personal connection.

"The role of Earth imaging satellites should be to fill the missing
link between environmental change and human beings," said Antoine de
Chassy, president and CEO of SPOT Image Corp. "Global climate change
remains an abstract concept until people visualize what it's doing in
their own backyard."

The personal connection is invaluable, said Pascale Ultre-Guerard, head
of Earth Observation Programs for CNES France. Once people see the
impact that climate change has on them, "they realize they can also
change the atmosphere and the environment," she said.

Making that connection with satellite imagery, however, has its own
challenges. SPOT's de Chassy pointed out that while Earth observation
satellites have been extremely successful at identifying environmental
change, the link with everyday citizens has often been difficult to
establish because imagery historically has been too expensive to obtain
and too difficult to analyze for anyone but a trained scientist.

But this has all changed in the past two years, according to de Chassy,
with the introduction of Web-enabled technology like Google Earth,
which has spanned the last mile between the satellite image and the
average person. And de Chassy believes this same technology will fill
the same gap between climate change and individuals, with the help of
imagery, because it's readily accessible and easy to use.

Google Earth Chief Technologist Michael Jones agreed with the analogy
that Google Earth has bridged the gap between remote sensing and
individual people, resulting in greater understanding of environmental
issues. The ability to use Google Earth and drill down from the global
panorama to the neighborhood level enables people to understand natural
and man-made events on a human scale.

Jones explained that Google Earth users often zoom in on their houses
and then pan around their neighborhoods. They get a different
perspective on the influences of human activities, such as development,
right in their immediate surroundings, which they understand because
they also see those impacts in their daily lives. Then when they pan
out and zoom back in on similar changes in other parts of the world
where they've never been, a global connection is made. This helps them
internalize the concept that environmental processes are inter-related
regardless of where they occur.

"That range of information is very important to satisfy both parts of
the human cognition system," said Jones. "We built Google Earth because
we want people to understand."

Turning Imagery into Action
The discussion then turned to specific initiatives that SPOT, CNES and
Google have undertaken, or plan to begin soon, that will leverage
remote sensing data and heighten the public's awareness of climate
change issues.

The Google initiative began with the introduction of Google Earth and
Google Maps, which provide users all of the tools they need to build
virtual globes that can be accessed by anyone via the Web. In the hands
of environmental researchers, these virtual globes allow interested
users to drill down from satellite and aerial imagery to view
photographs, video and other documentation illustrating in a personal
way the research being done to delve into specific atmospheric,
societal and ecological changes occurring around the world. Virtual
globes are a new medium for conveying information.

Millions of people are using Google Earth to explore environmental and
humanitarian issues. There are more than 50,000 Google Maps API-based
Web sites. Some examples related to polar research can be accessed on
the International Polar Year website.
One of the best
climate change research sites, in Jones' opinion, is EarthSLOT, which enables visitors
to view multiple layers of
terrain data linked geographically to their locations on Google Earth
images.

Earlier in the day at the International Polar Year seminar, Jones had
encouraged other climate change scientists to take advantage of the
free Google Earth tools and create websites to publicize their
research. He reminded them there are 200 million Google Earth users,
many of them in influential positions, around the world. He pointed out
that environmental scientists have tremendous potential to make a
difference, but only if someone hears their message.

"It's very important to keep information in the public eye and keep
sharing that information," he said.

For its part, SPOT Image is teaming with its parent company, Spot
Image, S.A. in Toulouse, France, to launch a global program called
Planet Action. The goal, according to de Chassy, is to get satellite
imagery and other resources into the hands of local communities so they
can take positive action in response to environmental change.

Planet Action will use Web-enabled technology like Google Earth to
facilitate sharing information among scientific and non-governmental
organizations and industries, schools and individuals at the local
level. The ultimate goal is to create a worldwide network of citizens
who have access to geospatial information and know how to apply it
locally to influence positive change where they live.

"Our archive of SPOT imagery is a gold mine for environmental change
research," said de Chassy. Since 1986, Spot Image has successfully
launched and operated five Earth observation satellites, three of which
are still functioning. The company has catalogued and archived millions
of high resolution scenes covering nearly every square kilometer of the
Earth's land mass.

One aspect of Planet Action will involve Spot Image directly supplying
new and archived imagery to support research projects. The company is
also looking to its worldwide network of 30 direct receiving stations
to play active roles in fostering programs within their local
communities where they already have relationships with academic,
governmental and civic organizations.

The influence of Web technology won't be limited to non-profit
activities at Spot Image, however. De Chassy described a "revolution of
the mind" that has occurred in the geospatial industry as a result of
Google Earth technology. He promised that Spot Image will soon be
changing the way its customers browse, purchase and experience
satellite imagery.

As a way of summation, CNES' Ultre-Guerard looked just a few years
farther into the future, describing the new satellites that France now
has under development as follow-ons to the SPOT series. The two new
optical satellites, known as Pleiades, will complement existing SPOT
capabilities in many ways, although the spatial resolution will be
improved to 0.7 meters. Launching in 2009 and 2010, Pleiades will also
complement high-resolution public-private partnership (PPP) radar
imaging satellites that will soon be launched by Germany and Italy.

The Earth Observation Responsibility
Spot Image, CNES and Google reached one final consensus before
adjourning their discussion: While the Earth observation industry has a
valuable role to play in climate change research, it also has a
tremendous responsibility to the citizens of Earth to remain unbiased
in the scientific and political debates. The discussion participants
agreed that it's critical for satellite image providers to be honest
brokers of geospatial information.

"Our responsibility as an industry is to do our jobs to supply
accurate imagery to the largest possible community, whether the imagery
shows change that is good or bad," said de Chassy. Jones agreed,
"Reporting the information so people can draw their own conclusions is
very important I think it's our job to be someone that can be
trusted."